Ryan Clady contract at forefront

Now that all the rookies are signed after the Broncos reached accord Tuesday with second-round quarterback Brock Osweiler and third-round running Ronnie Hillman, the team’s remaining contract issue is with left tackle Ryan Clady.

Don’t know if there’s a deadline in the Clady talks but common sense says both sides will get serious today.

Clady is an exceptional left tackle who currently has a $3.5 million salary left on his rookie contract. The Broncos have presented a five-year, $50 million proposal that would put him in a three-way tie for fourth highest-paid tackle.

Clady has been advised to seek a deal on par with Thomas’ contract. So there’s a gap in negotiations. The Broncos’ first training camp practice is tomorrow morning. And, oh yeah, Clady suffered a serious knee injury while playing basketball in April 2010 that required major surgery to repair.

Clady is a bright guy. He doesn’t want to practice Thursday with Elvis Dumervil lined up in front of him and all that loot laying there behind him.

Then again, he could play out this season and become a free agent, where with another solid year he would have greater leverage to seek a richer deal, even if the Broncos do slap him with the franchise tag.

Decisions on both sides must be made. And it makes sense for them to finalize those decisions today.

Decisions absolutely don’t need to be made yet, and it doesn’t make sense at all to take the deal today, for either side really, but certainly for Clady. It makes sense to get at least into training camp some, and even into the season, and to see how Clady plays with Manning.

For Clady: His play has been in the top half of the league for LTs, but certainly not in the top 5 the past two years. The claim that he is exceptional is completely unsupported by his numbers over at PFF, which puts him pretty squarely in the middle of the pack. But those years have been hard to judge. The first was coming off the bad knee injury, the second was with the schizoid Tebow running all over the place. He can command a higher asking price if he shows he’s got the goods, conveniently aided by the quick release of Manning that will make Clady appear to be in the top 5 again.

For the Broncos: Clady gets paid $3.5 million this year. They franchise him next year at just below $10 million. That’s about $13.5 million for the next two years, and about 40% ($6.5 million) less than Klis would have the Broncos pay him if he signed today.

One reason the Broncos WOULD want to sign Clady soon is if they are SURE he will return to form, then they can lock him up before he jacks his price up later, although he’s hard to see how much higher it could go. The real question is on the guaranteed money, which Klis doesn’t mention, so we’re in the dark on a key component of the contract. But let’s say we do know what key fact, the larger issue is that a bunch of new contracts will need to be negotiated over the next few years (Doom, Decker, Thomas, etc.) and the Broncos might want to get this one settled and out of the way. Personally, I’d argue there are too many variable in play to make that call, but that’s one valid point…

The ideal scenario is for the two teams to reach an agreement by around 8 games into the season when they know how Clady will play with their new QB, and if he’s worth the money.

Big D

Is Clady the best in the league? How would we know? He blew out his knee in 2010 and had a subpar year, and then he had to block for the fire drill QB, Tim Tebow. Do we really know if Clady is the top? Maybe being in the top four is pretty good and we should just sign and get on with it?

I am sure Elway and the boys will get a deal done by the end of the year. Clady is a top 5 LT and should be paid comparable to Joe Thomas, although I believe Clady is a much better LT.

Rocky

It really boils down to, in my mind, do they want to keep him longer than this year and next? Sure they could make him play out his contract and slap the franchise tag next year – but if I was Clady and if I felt jerked around I would sign onto another team the year after that regardless of what the Broncos offered me.

Casey

Yeah cladys really that good, watched him in Boise for years. Pay him up.

meldasue

They might not agree on contract, but the Broncos need to get Clady into camp and Clady needs to be there. His job description went up a few levels when we signed a future HOF, right-handed quarterback. If Clady sits out the first days (or weeks) of training camp, he’s going to have to play catch up with the rest of the offense. And Manning isn’t known for patience and good will toward teammates who make mental mistakes. The Broncos need Clady to be ready the first time they meet an opponent. This is the guy who’s got Peyton Manning’s blind side. He needs to be there.

elwaysucks

Clady will let Moneybags Manning go down like a sack of taters this year. Elway never has figured out “drive for show, putt for dough”…

joebronc

Thats funny shiite! “A tisket a tasket Elway put all his eggs in one basket”…

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.